Blog Retraction PCIJ-Style

November 8, 2005

Blogs are said to be superior than traditional media because bloggers can easily acknowledge their mistakes without burying them in the lower right hand corner of page 15, beside the obits.  After all, the retraction appears on the front page and lingers until enough posts are made to push it to the archives.  Still, this made me think about how best to make a retraction on one’s blog. 

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Make a new post with the retraction, quote the odious language, link to that post,  state the correct facts and say “I’m sorry.”  Copious amounts of regret and contrition are highly recommended.  Self-flagellation, too, but noone’s requiring it. 
2. Do not amend the original post except to add at the beginning a new parapraph (maybe in bold or italicized text) to the effect that certain portions of the following post are erroneous and we have acknowledged them in another post.  Make a link  to the retraction post.
3. If you like, you can rewrite the original post with the correct info and post it anew.  Create links to-and-from the original, retraction and corrected posts.

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